Obama aide concedes W.H. too insular at times

2/1/13 5:04 PM EST

Top Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer conceded on Friday that President Obama's inner circle may be too insular at times but he said he and other longtime insiders are often pressed for time.

"I think it's going to be incumbent upon those of us who are in the White House, those of us who work for the president, to do the best job we can to reach out to get outside voices in, whether they're meeting with the president, whether we're calling them for advice," Pfieffer said in an interview with Bloomberg's Al Hunt.

"You know, we've heard the criticism that we're too insular, and I'm sure sometimes that's right. But it's not because we don't respect the advice of other people and we don't want to hear what they have to say. It's just sometimes in the White House you're just trying to get through the five minutes in front of you and you don't have time to reach out to folks."

Pfeiffer, who has been with Obama since 2007, was just promoted from communications director to senior adviser to the president. He told Hunt that he expects outreach will be a "big priority" for new chief of staff Denis McDonough, also a member of the inner circle since 2007.

"So we've tried to bring folks in to meet with us, people with experience in both parties and different administrations, different parts of government, to give us some advice on how we go about enacting the president's agenda and helping the country," Pfeiffer said. "We're going to continue to do that."